Language Barrier
by Serendipity545
Summary: Smitchie fluff inside. Dedicated to valele, and pyrolyn.


My first Smitchie fic! Sigh, I've gone over to the dark side as I'm isolated all by myself. Anyone who's reading this ever watch a show called Firefly? It's a sci-fi show that's doing reruns now. Anyhow, I'm obsessed with it, and one of the show's oddities has manifested itself into this one shot. Enjoy!

Ada, this was the Smitchie fic, I was telling you about. Long enough for you? :)

Oh, and because I'm horrified enough by writing Smitchie, Nate and Peggy are together. Mwhahaha!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Chinese language, or Camp Rock.

* * *

After Mitchie all but launched herself from her mom's catering van, over the moon about being back at Camp Rock, she did a small happy dance before scanning the crowd for familiar faces. Her eyes light up as she saw Shane, Nate, Caitlyn, and Peggy standing over by the speakers on the outdoor stage.

"Shane! _Bao bei_, I've missed you!" Mitchie surprised the whole group by sneaking up and then jumping on Shane's back. Caitlyn and Peggy burst into laughter as Nate tried to hold back a smirk while Mitichie giggled. Shane's face must have been priceless, and Mitchie wished that she had jumped in front of it to see his face. Shane twisted his neck to meet her eyes.

"Mitch? Did you just call me baby?" Mitchie rolled her eyes, before hopping off of Shane's back and walking around him to hug Caitlyn and Peggy.

"No, I called you _bao bei_." Mitchie sounded out the word slowly. Indifferently, she added, "Sierra drilled Mandarin into my head this year so she could keep her conversational skills sharp. Some of it stuck, as you can see."

"What does it mean?" Shane asked as he snatched Mitchie away from her girlfriends to wrap an arm around her waist loosely.

"It means-" Mitchie stopped abruptly before patting his cheek. "You know what, _bao bei_, how about you find out on your own? It'll be more fun that way." Shane pulled her closer and turned on his pop star charm. He even made sure to show off both of his dimples.

"Please, Mitch?" he begged adorably. Mitchie chewed on her lip for a moment and he knew that she was going to spill it any second now. After all, who can resist Shane Gray's charm?

"Michelle Torres, get your butt back here and help me unload, this instant!" Mitchie's mother's voice boomed up from all the way back at her van. Mitchie unwrapped his hand from her waist, giving it a small squeeze before scurrying off to the van, with Caitlyn in tow.

Shane watched her walk away with appreciation, and he tore his eyes away when Nate finally threw his head back and laughed. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing Shane. It's just that now you're going to be obsessed with finding out what that word means. I like this girl."

Shane tossed back his head, his stylish and product-containing hair looking as awesome as ever as he sulked, "I have never gotten obsessed over a little mystery."

Now Peggy snorted, slapping him on the back, "Sure, pop star. That's why you didn't put the camp gossip line on red alert for 'a girl with a voice' last year."

"I still can't believe you haven't gotten together with her yet, man," Nate added, taking Peggy's hand in his.

"Whatever, it just never seemed like the right time, " Shane scowled, "I'm going to hit the computer center to catch up on my emails."

Sarcasm dripping from every word, Peggy added, "Sure Shane, go use a computer to catch up on emails you could answer on your Blackberry right here. You're not going to look up on a Chinese dictionary on Google or anything." Shane froze.

"Google is more than just for searching how many fan sites I've got? Thanks for the tip Margaret!" He called as he started to run full sprint towards the computer center. With something akin to worry in Peggy's eye, she asked her boyfriend,

"He was joking about the Google thing, right?" Nate just shrugged noncommittally.

* * *

Once again, having Shane Gray at Camp Rock was causing quite a stir. Everywhere on campus, he was the topic of conversation.

But was it about his newest single?

His dance routine in hip-hop class?

The fact that he was still available?

Shockingly, the answer to all of the above was no. The conversation was about what the hell he did in his free time. It wasn't singing or composing. It wasn't swimming or hanging with friends. Whatever the hell it was he did do in his free time however, was absolutely ruining him.

His eyes were bloodshot, he seemed twitchy, and never all there when he was teaching. His hair was all-natural, (And some days, it wasn't even brushed), and he kept muttering nonsense words underneath his breath when he thought no one was listening. Even his band mates seemed worried, and the one most concerned was Mitchie.

Mitchie couldn't understand what was causing Shane to act so, un-Shane-like. She wondered why he found out what the endearment meant and was freaking out. She didn't think it was that serious, considering what she thought was between them last summer. Sure, there was minimal contact, but that's just because he was on tour all year, with little free time. It didn't mean that he had been avoiding her or anything.

Right?

Speak of the hot devil, and he shall appear. Mitchie spied his white jacket through the trees, on an adjacent trail. "Pop star!" Mitchie called to catch his attention. She sees him stop through the trees, baffled.

"Mitch? Where are you?" he answered, looking in the exact opposite direction. Mitchie rolled her eyes and stomped through the underbrush.

"Over here, silly," Shane whirled around to find her emerging from the trees. Mitchie wonders why he's carrying book in his hands. She remembered Shane telling her once that books gave him hives, so she arched an eyebrow at the sight, "Whatcha reading?"

Shane hid the book behind him, looking embarrassed. He cleared his throat, "Just, um, summer homework."

"But you're home schooled Shane." Why would he bother with such a petty lie? It set Mitchie on alert, suddenly uneasy. They began walking down the trail, towards Shane's original destination.

"New tutor this year. She's insisted that I read a book this summer." He looked so sincere, Mitchie began to doubt herself. To make amends for distrusting him (even if he didn't know it), she asked,

"Oh. Well, what's it called? Maybe I've read it before." Shane looked at the ground as they walked, said book tucked under his arm, title obscured.

"It's no big deal, Mitchie. I've got it." Mitchie stops walking, and places her hands on her hips.

"Shane, what the hell is going on?"

Shane cocked his head, confused, "What are you talking about?"

"Let's see. You're reading. You won't look me in the eye. Everyone's worried about you, and you called me Mitchie."

"Is there something wrong with me calling you by your name?" He sarcastically asked, dodging the other points. Mitchie looked like she was about to explode with anger.

All that came out of her mouth though, was, "What's wrong, Shane? Why won't you hang out with any of us?" Well, he couldn't tell her what he was really up to.

"Sorry, Mitch. I've just been busy. This book is actually kind of good. I've been up late reading it. Look, how about I meet you down by the lake at six, okay? I should be done with the book by then. " He reached out and squeezed her hand, hoping to placate her.

It seemed to work, because Mitchie pulled him into a hug, his shoulder muffling her reply, "You better be there, _bao bei_," before she pulled away with a small smile. She hitched here thumb in the opposite direction, "I've got to head back to class. See you at six?"

Relieved that the drama was over, Shane nodded before jogging off towards his destination, listening to Mitchie hum until he was out of reach.

* * *

Once he was out of Mitchie's earshot, Shane took out the book titled _**Mandarin Phrases for Beginners, by J. L. Hall. **_Flipping through the book as quickly as he could, he dog-eared pages that contained phrases he needed, until he sat down at a computer console in the media room.

The rickety cabin was hooked up for a basic connection, and the two computers in the room were relatively ancient. Bugs still buzzed around annoyingly, but after nearly a week of being in this room non-stop had taught Shane to ignore it.

He searched on Google for a Chinese-English directory, and pulled up one he had been on before. All this week, he'd been scrolling through the site, taking down words that he could use. He had also spent all week trying to find the word _bao bei_, but the site didn't go in alphabetical order, so he simply scrolled carefully.

Why was Shane Gray wasting his time looking up Chinese words? Originally, it was to find out what that word meant, because each time he tried to forget about the fact that he didn't know what it meant, Mitchie would call him that, and his frustration would rise anew. Then it just sort of melded into picking out cool words, and finding curse words was definitely fun, too.

Through the multiple hours he spent waiting for the screen to load, another idea wormed it's way into his head. Nate was right, Shane should have asked her out last summer. But he also had that tour right after camp, and he knew that it would never work. But this year was different. No tours, just some recording. And with Connect Three's popularity, he could afford to build a recording studio from scratch in Mitchie's hometown and never even use it. Hell, he could build three and never use any of them. This was the perfect year to ask her out.

But he couldn't just blurt it out, after all this time. It needed to be special, different. He wanted Mitchie to remember the moment forever, just like he would. So he came up with the idea to ask her in Mandarin. It showed that he could be unique, that he listened to her, and they'd be able to talk to each other in another language. So he had to have the perfect speech when he managed to talk to her.

And it looked like he had to talk to her soon. He didn't realize that he had been so transparent, or acted so differently. Maybe he needed to consider turning down Disney's offer for Connect Three to star in that movie if he couldn't even fool Mitchie. He scribbled down some sentences in English, and put them in 's translator, which provided him with the proper translation, (well, hopefully anyway). He finally reached the bottom of the directory's page, still looking for the word _bao bei_.

Everything really hinged on what that meant. If it meant something like, my friend, there was no way he could go through with it. But if it meant something more…. Shane sighed, wishing for the thousandth time this week that it went in alphabetical order, or at least wasn't so random. Before he clicked on the next page, the word random caught his eye. He clicked on the drop box, and saw the word alphabetical underneath it.

"_Yu buh duh_!" He let the curse fall from his lips impatiently. He clicked on it, and sat back to let the page reload. He couldn't believe he had wasted all that time. Glancing at the clock to see how much time he had left to go meet Mitchie, he realized that he was this close to being late.

"_Gorramit_, I was so close, too!" He shut down the computer and grabbed the paper that held his declaration. Stumbling down the cabin steps, he started jogging to the lake, trying to memorize the strange sounds.

* * *

Shane managed to make it to the lake, just on time, and found Mitchie waiting down by the docks.

"Hey pop star, want to take another ride?" How could he resist her cute face? He hauled the canoe into the lake, as she watched. They floated off together, quietly paddling to the center of the lake. Mitchie was first to break the silence, "So, Shane, what have you been up to?"

Shane fiddled with his oar before putting it down and turning to face her, inching closer. "Well, I've been practicing something. I know I've been avoiding you, but it's just because I wanted to get it right."

Curious, Mitchie asked, "Is it a new song?"

"No, not exactly." He smiled, taking out the paper and reading from it. In essence, he stumbled through, "Darling, there's something I want to tell you. You're the first thing I think about in the morning, and the last thing before bed. You're wonderful, and you're also hot. No song I ever write can do you justice, but that doesn't stop me from trying. Will you go out with me? I promise to keep you laughing and keep you from crying, because an angel like you needs to light up the world with your brilliant smile. So, will you?" He concluded his lengthy speech, proud of himself.

Shane was on hands and knees this point, trying to be as close as possible to Mitchie without tipping the canoe over. His stomach was doing somersaults as he waited for her to respond, agony twisting inside him. He couldn't catch his breath, and he wanted to wipe his hands off on something, because they were uncomfortably sweaty.

Mitchie, on the other hand, was just sitting there, oar across her lap. She was gazing at him blankly, the wind lightly ruffling her bangs. "Shane, that's all well and great you learned a new language, but could you talk to me in English please? That went right over my head."

Shane jerked back, nearly tipping them over, "What do you mean it went over your head? Didn't you spend an entire year learning it with your friend?" he shouted. Mitchie let out a nervous giggle, too confused to really do anything else. "This is not funny, Mitch," he sternly, "I've spent all week trying to say what I just said. How can you not know what I said?"

Mitchie just gave him and impish smirk, before bursting to gales of laughter. "Shane, _bao bei_, I told you, _some_ of it managed to stick. In fact, _bao bei_ is probably the only thing that did." She tipped the boat from side to side as she giggled, while Shane fought conflicting emotions. Now that his elaborate plan was ruined, he might as well just ask her, Shane-style.

"Mitch, will you be my girlfriend?" Mitchie stopped, mid-snort, her eyes wide.

"What?" she choked out, stunned. Shane sat back, hoping that she didn't notice his wince. Was being his girlfriend so far from the way she thinks about him, that it was so shocking? "Yes, _bao bei_, yes!" She shrieked, deliriously happy that he finally thought about her that way. She leaned into give him a hug, but was stopped when he shook his finger at her.

"One condition Mitch," he stipulated, "For the love of music, tell me what _bao bei _means. I've been trying to look it up all week!"

Mitchie leaned into ruffle his hair, "Well, pop star, it has two meanings. It can mean sweetheart or my love." Shane was about to burst with happiness, he could feel it radiating down to his toes. Once again, he leaned towards his girlfriend, a silly smirk on his face.

"So, baby, will you be my _bao bei_?" he queried, laughing. Before Mitchie could respond, he reached across the canoe, nearly tipping them into the lake. His thumb caressed her jaw line, before pulling her in closer to him, until he finally claimed the kiss they should have shared long ago.

And _f-icháng_ if it didn't feel like _ti __ntáng_.

* * *

I honestly think this is my best fluff ever. But I'll let all of you decide. Here are the translations:

Bao bei: My sweetheart, my love.

F icháng: Damn

ti ntáng: Heaven

Um…..I couldn't find the proper construction for this, so pretend it's in Mandarin!

: Darling, there's something I want to tell you. You're the first thing I think about in the morning, and the last thing before bed. No song I ever write can do you justice, but that doesn't stop me from trying. Will you go out with me? I promise to keep you laughing and keep you from crying, because an angel like you needs to light up the world with your brilliant smile. Your wonderful, and you're also very hot.

Yu buh duh : I am so stupid!

The paragraph was cut out, cause it would have taken me weeks to get right. I'll do it one day, gorramit! Love you all, Serendipity545.


End file.
